Hot deformation studies on 2.7% Si steel using gleeble thermo-mechanical simulator

Uni-axial hot compression tests were conducted at different temperatures (1173–1423 K) and at strain rates of 0.1, 1, 10 and 100/s using Thermo-mechanical Simulator (Gleeble-350°C System) on a 2.7% Si electrical steel to understand the hot workability issues associated with this steel during hot rolling. The flow curves obtained revealed dynamic recovery as the predominant softening mechanism at majority of hot deformation conditions except at lower temperature and high strain rate where work hardening was observed. However, the work hardening was not very prominent due to ferrite structure throughout the hot deformation temperature range established by Thermo-Calc software. Small amount of cementite (pearlite) transformed from austenite along prior ferrite grain was observed due to presence of carbon in excess of 0.02. Strain rate sensitivity varied within a narrow range of 0.18–0.21 with rising tendency with an increase in temperature.